


Bad Does It Better

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Werewolves are still a thing, Fake/Pretend Relationship, King Derek Hale, King Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Misunderstandings, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Warning: Kate Argent, sterekpartners, sterekweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-27 03:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12572368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: "Oh? And who would helpyou, The Wicked King?"There was only one person in any of the lands he knew of who he had a chance in hell of getting help from, and luckily, he should be the last person put off by Derek's title"AnEvilKing,"Or: Derek and Stiles both have reputations as evil kings, when Derek goes to Stiles for help in saving his kingdom, Stiles agrees... on the condition that Derek fakes an engagement with him, for political reasons, ofcourse





	Bad Does It Better

**Author's Note:**

> I was so close to doing another idea before I eventually came up with this, too much Once Upon A Time and "Look What You Made Me Do" creates some weird, weird things... I imagine Stiles' wardrobe to look alot like a slightly more masculine version of Regina's from OUAT

"You won't get away with this,"

The look on the blonde's face made him feel sick to his stomach, it brought chills to his flesh and made his heart beat faster- he was only glad that she couldn't hear it

"Oh... but I will," she insisted with a sinister smirk

"That's the thing about all of this Derek, I will get _whatever_ I want, because no one likes you, no one _cares_ , that's the price you pay for being a wicked king, and you can't take me down alone,"

He inhaled, tightening his grip on the armrests of his throne

She was right

She was right about all of it, unfortunately

No one in the kingdom cared for him, in fact, they all rather despised him if he was being honest, but that wasn't the worst part

The worst part was that she was right about something else even more

He couldn't take her down alone, no one could

He would have to find someone to help him, put aside his trust issues and fears of interacting with other people and take the plunge, because if he didn't....

If he didn't, his entire kingdom would be burned to the ground

"You're right, I can't take you down alone, wich is why I'll have to find someone to help me,"

The woman let out a laugh, cruel and gleefull, her smirk stretching into a sincerely amused smile at that, eyes sparkling with cruel amusement

"Oh? And who would help _you_ , The Wicked King?"

There was only one person in any of the lands he knew of who he had a chance in hell of getting help from, and luckily, he should be the last person put off by Derek's title

"An _Evil_ King,"

 

~+~

 

_"Achoo!"_

"I would say 'bless you' but something about that just seems wrong,"

The king scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he stared down at the map on the table in front of him

"It's freezing in here, somebody needs to stoke the fire," he grumbled, glancing over his shoulder and slowly raising an eyebrow at the woman next to him

"You have an entire kingdom at your feet, don't look at _me_ to go stoke the fire, _your majesty_ ,"

"Not you Lydia, the puppy behind you,"

As if on cue, the massive black dog by Lydia's feet lifted his head up, ears slicked back and wimpering as he stared at the king

"Don't look at me like that, you shouldn't have been sleeping in a meeting anyway, now go breathe some life into the fire for Goddess' sake,"

Slowly, and with heavy reluctance, the dog rose up to his feet and started slinking off towards the fire place, wich brought Lydia to stare at the king with an irritated expression on her face

"Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today did you?"

"No.... something's coming, I can feel it in my bones,"

That zapped the annoyance out of her, her expression shifting to one of concern as she stepped towards the king

"Stiles.... what do you mean by that? What is it?"

"I don't know," Stiles repeated, shaking his head and inhaling deeply as he brought a hand up to his face, eyes squinted shut and wincing loudly

"It hurts.... something hurts... something is about to happen here, it's coming..... my head hurts,"

Gently- as gently as she could- Lydia set her hands on Stiles' shoulders, carefully moving one up to cup his jaw and turn him to face her

"Stiles...?"

He inhaled again- loudly this time, like a great gust of air was flooding his lungs, and when his eyes opened, they were frosted bright violet

"Something wicked this way comes,"

 

~+~

 

Somehow, Derek expected the castle of The Evil King to be more.... well.... evil and intimidating looking

But it looked like a pretty normal castle when it came right down to it, maybe a little dark, it could probably use a bit more maintenance, but it was all around a pretty decent place

Swallowing tightly, he made his way to the door and turned towards the guard on his right

"I'm here to speak with King Stilinski, it's quite urgent,"

"And you would be?" the guard asked, clearly unimpressed

"Alpha Derek Hale, King Of Lyacon,"

He could practically see the color draining out of the guard's face as he and the other guard rushed to open the castle doors and run inside- well, atleast the one on the right did, the one on the left kept his position outside

"R-Right this way, Your Majesty! His Majesty may be .. er.. currently indisposed, but I assure you we'll ready him as soon as possible!"

As much as Derek hated that people feared him... atleast it got things done in a hurry

He decided not to answer the stuttering guard, always having found that his speaking usually lead to increasingly bad situations, and instead just followed behind him for a good wile until they came to what Derek assumed was the throne room

The guard wasted no time in pushing the doors open and confirming Derek's suspicions- it was the throne room alright, and sitting the on the large silver and black throne ahead of him, was King Stilinski

He was quite young, with a beautifull, soft baby face- though it had a certain maturity haunting it for sure- large brown eyes that reminded Derek of a doe, flushed pink, beautifully shaped lips, pale skin splattered with moles, dark chesnut hair, and a lean frame

But his physical qualities weren't really the most striking things about him, more what he was wearing, dressed all in black, leather heeled boots, leather pants, and a fitted coat that looked like it was made entirely of feathers with long bell sleeves, he even wore a silver necklace with a black pendant on it, though Derek couldn't tell what the pendant was from this distance

He certainly _looked_ evil

"K-King ... Alpha... Hale, yo-your majesty," the guard nearly wimpered

Oh _please_ , Derek hadn't even threatened him...

Unless the nervousness was more on King Stilinski's part

The king glanced up from whatever he had been discussing with who Derek assumed to be his advisors and turned his attention straight towards the wolf, his eyes cold and judgmental for a long breath of time before starting to twinkle with something akin to amusement, lips perking up into a smirk

"And to what do I owe this pleasure, your Alphaness?" he crooned

"I have an urgent, private matter I need to discuss with you,"

The king tilted his head against his hand, eyes sizing up the Alpha in front of him and making Derek want to twitch from being under such scrutiny

He was used to it, unfortunately, being leered at for his appearance, for his body, and if the king was lusting after him lik-

"Well, you certainly have a nice sense of style,"

...

_Oh_

He could sort of understand where that was coming from, he was wearing similar boots and pants, but ... really it was just his riding clothes, the only thing remotely elaborate was his long black waist coat...

Oh well, whatever got his attention, Derek supposed

"I suppose I can give you a moment of my time, since you bothered to get all dressed up for me,"

"Thank you," Derek said quietly, watching with releif as the king snapped his fingers, the guards immediately exiting and the advisors right behind them

The king glanced down at a large black dog by his feet, clearing his throat as if the dog would know what that meant

"Go on Parrish, you too, I'm sure the Alpha will be _very_ nice to me, isn't that right Alpha Hale?"

Derek gave an affirmative nod, and watched with amazement as the dog slowly rose to his feet, glaring at him the entire time as he slowly skulked out, the door shutting behind him with a loud shudder through the walls

"Come, sit next to me," King Stilinski offered calmly

"But... that's where your queen should sit,"

He wasn't sure if he should argue here, but it seemed... inappropriate to take the other throne of a kingdom that didn't belong to him in any way

"I don't have a queen yet, or a fellow king, no one is here to see it anyway, just sit, don't just stand there like a peasant,"

Why did Derek have the feeling that the king was getting a kick out of that word...?

No matter, he knew if he wanted to win the young king's favor he really needed to do whatever the man asked of him, and sitting on a throne was far from a daunting task, so he swept the tail of his coat behind him and walked steadily towards the throne

It still felt odd sitting in another person's throne, and yet...

Yet somehow he seemed to fit in it quite well....

"So, Alpha Hale, what is it that you wanted to speak with me about that was so earth shattering you couldn't even set up a proper meeting with me?"

"I need your help," Derek blurted out

Years of teachers, tutors, and advisors who had tried to instruct him on the proper way to communicate and yet... he still failed miserably

But atleast he had gotten the point across

"And what could I possibly help you with?"

"There's a woman who's trying to burn my kingdom to the ground, I need help in getting rid of her, resources, power, an idea, anything, my ... my kingdom is at a weak point right now, we're still recovering from the last time she attacked, and I don't know how much longer we can hold out, whatever she's planning now is going to be big, much bigger than what she's done in the past, I can't handle it on my own, and my people are shaken enough as it is, please your majesty... I need help,"

The king leaned back, seeming to roll that around in his head for a good several moments before giving a non-commital hum

"Alright, I'll help you,"

Derek inhaled, his heart jumping with releif and hope

Hope that he might finally have something at his disposal to reclaim his kingdom and no longer have to worry about that horrid bi-

"But I'll need something in return, all favors come with a price and I don't do anything for free,"

"Name the price, whatever it is I'll pay it,"

The grin that crossed the king's face could only be described as devious- or perhaps just mischevious, if it weren't for the reputation that King Stilinski carried on his shoulders...

"Your hand in marriage,"

Of all the things Derek could have possibly expected him to come up with...

That sure as hell wasn't one of them

"Excuse me?"

"Or atleast, your fake hand in marriage,"

Now Derek was just confused...

"I don't understand,"

"It's quite simple Alpha Hale, you have a very large vermin that you need exterminated, so do I, your's is trying to destroy your kingdom and mine is trying to rip mine away from me, the lying scum has my people already under his thumb, he's going to overthrow me unless I do something drastic,"

"Like getting married," Derek concluded

"Or even just engaged, you need resources Alpha Hale, I need time, not that MUCH time, a couple of months at the absolute most, so here's my proposition, we announce our engagement tonight, that will force back Theo's hand for a wile, if I'm that much closer to producing an heir then the Council and more importantly the _people_ will be more hesitant to dethrone me right away, I'm sure you're aware of this but I may as well tell you in case you aren't, my kingdom doesn't have what I would call 'good' relations with several of our neighboring lands and we're straddling the line of war with many of them, the people need a STABLE bloodline,"

"It'll look like a more solid front if you're getting married and having babies than it would to stay completely alone, where anyone could take your throne at any time,"

"And thank God and Goddess that the same applies to my competition, if they see my stabilizing they'll hesitate to have my head cut off, but as long as I'm sitting here alone I'm a sitting duck, so... we announce our engagement, give me the time that I need to take out my threat, and then I'll release you from the betrothal, in the mean time, I will _personally_ exterminate your vermin for you, does that sound like a deal?"

"You need to realize that you aren't going after one insane woman with a match, you're going after an entire _clan_ of hunters here,"

"Let me guess.... starts with 'Ar' ends with 'gent'? Yes I'm very familiar with that particular breed of rat,"

Derek didn't know what the king had up his sleeve to get rid of the entire Argent clan, but whatever it was, he was willing to go for it

The Argents were responsible for destroying his family, threatening his kingdom, forcing him into the position of a king when he never should have been one to begin with- not to mention the position of an Alpha, wich was even worse

The Argents had burned his life to the ground, and if it came down to them or his kingdom, he would show them no mercy

Let the evil king do as he pleased

"You have a deal King Stilinski,"

"Oh please!" the king said with a dismissive snort, his lips curving up into a wicked grin

"We're engaged now, no need to be so formal, so for everyone's sake, just call me Stiles,"

 

~+~

 

" _What_ did you just do?"

"I got engaged, well... sort of, I got engaged as far as anyone asks,"

"And do you really think that's the best idea?" Lydia asked with a judgemental frown

"Sure it is, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement, I need a way to stall Theo for time and the best way to do that is with an engagement, Derek needs the Argents to be taken care of- wich I could probably use too, if I'm the one he uses to do this then I can protect Allison and Chris from the avalanche I'm about to reign down upon them, and think about it, The Evil King and The Wicked Alpha, we'll be a real force of nature that no one will want to screw with,"

The strawberry-blonde took a very deep breath, crossing her arms over her chest and exhaling slowly

"I can't believe I'm saying this ... but you have a pretty good point, however, _mind me_ when I tell you that your temporary hold on Theo is _very_ temporary, it won't last long, you need to take care of him as soon as you possibly can, or you'll run out of time,"

Stiles' eyes flickered downwards, the king falling silent for a few moments before speaking again

"No matter what it takes?"

Lydia paused, her grip over her arms tightening as she locked eyes with him

"No matter what it takes,"

 

~+~

 

Announcing the engagement had involved him alot less than he thought it would, and he was rather thankfull for that

Derek had never done well with people and he was fairly relieved to not have to deal with them any more than absolutely necessary even on a good day

If things could keep going smoothly like this, he saw no reason for their plan not to work

"Corey, why don't you show our guest to his room? I'm sure he's very tired, I'll have his things sent for later today," Stiles ordered with ease

The servant beside Derek bowed faithfully and started to walk away, apparently intending for Derek to follow him, but the Alpha had other plans

"Stiles? When are we going to start discussing our... _wedding plans_?"

"Well aren't you an eager beaver?" Stiles smirked with amusement, taking a step towards Derek and allowing his face to soften into something a little less cocky and a little more sincere

"Soon, I promise, but I have things to do today and you need to rest, follow Corey and make yourself at home, I'll have someone come for you when dinner is ready, we can start discussing the wedding tommorrow, I promise,"

It wasn't what Derek wanted to hear... but it would have to do for now

"Alright, though... may I request that my sister Cora be sent for as well? If I'm to stay here for some time I would prefer to have her with me,"

"I'll do that immediately, though if I may... who will be on you throne in both your absences?" the other king asked curiously

"My cousin is quite a capable ruler, and I have no doubts that she'll serve well until Cora or I return,"

Derek loved his cousin, and although it terrified him to leave the kingdom in her hands alone wile he wasn't there to protect her- to protect any of them- he had to think responsibly, and even plucking Cora out of Lyacon was an incredibly dangerous and selfish thing to do, but he couldn't bear the thought of losing her, no matter the outcome

Besides, atleast it was partly responsible

Cora was the only living descendant other than himself of the last queen, the throne would be her's without contest if something happened to Derek, but that was where the purity of the bloodline ended

His cousin would be next in line, but there'd be some contest given that she was an illegitimate birth- and worse, a coyote, not a wolf

A coyote could never lead a wolf pack and the Hale Alpha line would be gone for good, meaning that for the first time in Lyacon's history his kingdom would be faced with the choice of either a monarch by blood... or one by status of Alphahood, but not both

Derek and Cora were the only things standing in the way of that, and if anything happened to Derek, he needed to be absolutely sure that Cora would be safe in taking the throne

"Derek," Stiles said softly, drawing the Alpha's attention back to the present moment and out of his thoughts

"Please don't be afraid, I can assure you with complete certainty, there is no place safer in the WORLD for you- or for your sister- than my kingdom, you're going to be my husband, that makes you one of the most important people here, and I will fight with EVERYTHING I have to protect you, alright?"

Derek gave a small nod, forcing himself to look up from where he had been staring at the ground and focus instead on Stiles' face

He seemed so completely sincere, the usual guise of arrogance entirely gone from his expression now, leaving only softness and honesty

It was a good look for him, if Derek was being honest

His eyes flickered breifly down to the pendant around the king's neck, now that he was able to make it out better he could pretty much see what it was

"I like your pendant, it's a witch's knot isn't it?"

Stiles went pale, looking ... upset, actually

Why was he upset?

"It is," he said quietly, reaching up and wrapping his fingers around the pendant, holding it tightly in his hand and giving Derek a tight smile

"It's a family symbol," he offered a moment later

Maybe he was self-conscious...?

Derek reached around his own neck, lifting out a pendant of his own- a triskelion

"This is my family symbol, I understand,"

Stiles didn't seem to cheer up though, if anything he just seemed... oddly skeptickal....

"It's nice, I like it," he said a moment later, clearing his throat and smiling a little bit more, letting go of the pendant long enough to place a hand on Derek's shoulder

"You really should go and rest though, you've had a long journey, I'll have your sister sent for immediately,"

And without another word, Stiles turned on his heel and walked away, back to whatever he had been discussing with the guards before Derek's earlier intrusion

Derek was .. puzzled

He didn't know if he had done something wrong or what that something may be, but he hadn't meant any harm...

He could feel a pang of frustration in his chest as he reluctantly followed the servant up to the room he would be staying in, heaving a quiet sigh of melancholy as he walked

Once again his lack of people skills had probably ended up ruining what could have actually been something akin to a freindship

Or atleast a partnership....

He hated his faults, he hated his incapabilities, he just...

Hated himself....

 

~+~

 

"What do you think? I asked the cooks to make something special for you, I think they may have gone a little oveboard but it certainly is a healthy spread," Stiles noted with a small smile

Apparently whatever had happened the day before with the pendant was either forgotten or forgiven, and Derek wasn't sure wich he was hoping for more

Either way, he certainly wouldn't be bringing it up again, and he was just glad to have Stiles back to the considerably amicable person he had been before

"It's... alot, please thank them for going through all of the trouble,"

Derek would have said it was unnecessary but, well.... he was a werewolf and werewolves had a tendency to require alot of food....

"No problem, they're used to cooking for werewolves, a freind of mine is one," Stiles noted simply, taking a sip of his morning tea and digging into a fat strip of bacon on his plate

"Is he here in the castle?" Derek asked curiously, going about his own food a little more slowly

He still knew so little about Stiles, and even if their engagement was fake, he still wanted to know more about his fiance'

"Not... at the current moment, but he usually stays here, he's actually in another land with his fiance' as we speak,"

"Oh,"

Stiles sounded somewhat sad about that, they must be incredibly close for him to miss the guy so much that even going on a temporary trip to see his fiance' the young king still looked like he was going to be gone forever

Although Derek also supposed such a relationship was pretty reasonable

Stiles was known as the Evil King and he imagined that didn't afford him alot in the way of freinds

"Your sister will be here by this afternoon by the way, as well as several of your things,"

"That was fast," Derek noted with mild surprise

Stiles gave him another smirk, snapping his fingers as a violet spark snapped between them

"Magic my dear, it's a wonderfull thing,"

It was, Derek knew that from experience, but he was still a little surprised by the exact speed of it

"So... about our _wedding plans_...."

"I did some researching last night on the subject," Stiles interrupted, wich took Derek by quite the pleasant surprise

He hadn't expected Stiles to take things on so quickly or so seriously, but he was certainly glad for it

"I'm afraid I need to look into some other things, I'll speak to you about it before dinner, I promise, until then, I've arranged for you to explore the kingdom a bit, get to know the people, have a little tour, that sort of thing, to occupy your time, I have meetings and some other boring activities that will take some time away from our ceremony but I assure you, I'll be ready to talk about it by tonight,"

"I'm sorry to press so hard, it's just.... I was really hoping to get married by _All Hallow's Eve_ ,"

That brought Stiles to a pause, and given the look on his face, he clearly understood what Derek was trying to say

"I see.... do you have your heart absolutely set on that date? It's pretty soon,"

"It isn't COMPLETELY set.... but I'm quite certain,"

The witch gave a slow, single nod, glancing to his side and staring off at what appeared to be nothingness

"I'll speak with you tonight, we'll see what we can do about expediting the wedding,"

Derek heaved a breath, closing his eyes in releif

"Thank you,"

"No no," Stiles insisted, smiling gently and raising his tea cup towards Derek

"I promise, there's no need to thank me, especially given that I haven't done anything yet,"

True, but Derek felt more than certain that he would do something- he would do something very soon, if the werewolf had to bet on it

"You will," Derek insisted simply

"I know that you will,"

 

~+~

 

Cora's carriage was late

Her carriage was late and that made Derek anxious and jittery and nervous, had him pacing back and forth for over an hour waiting desperately to atleast hear that she was on her way soon

It was really no surprise when the guard from last night- Corey- ended up approaching him to tell him that Stiles had arranged for him to explore some of the quieter areas of the kingdom as a publicity stunt, it would be good for Derek to show his face and make it look like he was familiarizing himself with the kingdom and the people in it

Or atleast that's what Stiles thought

Having nothing better to do and being a little afraid to tell him no- afraid that at any moment Stiles would dash his only hope at keeping his kingdom safe- he agreed

Wich is how he ended up here, walking through the surprisingly empty village with an air of mild concern around him

He knew that Stiles wasn't exactly well liked among his people- you didn't get a name like "The Evil King" for no reason- he had expected that his presence would atleast generate some interest, but it seemed that everyone was either in their homes, or keeping as far away from him as possible

It was unnerving and strange and had him feeling tense and anxious- even more so than he had at the palace, he didn't know what to do with himself....

"Excuse me!!"

The sound of a new voice caused him to pause, looking down in surprise as a little girl clutching a toy rabbit came running up towards him

"Excuse me!! Are you marrying King Stiles?"

"Um... yes, that's right,"

"Really? Does that mean you're gonna be his freind?" she asked hopefully

Derek couldn't help the soft, fond smile that crossed over his face as he crouched down to be on her level, eyes full of warmth and amusement

"You could say that, yes,"

The girl's face lit up like a room full of candles, beaming so brightly that it nearly hurt to look at

"Really!? So you're gonna be nice to him? People aren't so nice to him sometimes and they need to be, are you gonna be?"

"I'll be nice to him, I swear," he promised

The girl looked positively over the moon, like Derek had just made her entire _year_ with that promise

But before she could say anything else, a horrified _"Lucy!!!"_ rang out behind her, and a woman who was most likely her mother raced towards her and hurried to pick her up

"I'm so sorry your highness, please forgive her! She doesn't know what she's saying!"

"It's really alright, there's nothing to forgive," Derek assured gently

He wasn't sure who the people here were more afraid of, Stiles, or himself, but it was .... terrifying to wonder about

He'd hate to think that these people were so afraid of him, even with the title of The Wicked King- or The Wicked Alpha in some circles, depending

But he would also hate to know that they were this terrified of Stiles

He may be evil- wich was something of a relevant term anyhow- but he had been so nice to Derek all this time...

Ofcourse, that may have just been an act....

"Thank you, it was a blessing to meet you your majesty, please excuse us now, we-"

"Actually," Derek said suddenly, interrupting the stranger's attempt to break away from what he could only hesitantly call a conversation

"I wondered if I might be able to speak with you about something, I just want to ask a couple of questions,"

The woman's face was one of dread, as if so much as asking for that had inconvenienced her entire year

She glanced around, probably to see if anyone was watching her, before nodding towards a small house a few yards away and starting to walk towards it

Derek and the guards followed, and the werewolf couldn't help but observe the way people were watching him, as if he were carrying a plague with him or something

To say it was unnerving was putting it very mildly...

He politely asked the guards to stay outside once they had arrived at the house, and wile they were reluctant at first, Derek's points that he could defend himself against one woman and her child and that a greater threat was more likely to come from outside the house finally convinced them, wich is what brought them here as Derek stepped into the house and shut the door behind him

"Lucy, go play with the cat," the woman instructed harshly as she set the little girl down on the floor

"But Mama-"

"NOW,"

With a pout, Lucy stared up at Derek one more time and forced a smile

"Nice to meet you Mr. Stiles' Freind!" she grinned, rushing off towards the back of the house and leaving the adults alone

"She seems very nice," Derek observed

"Thank you," the stranger said quickly and coldly

"May I ask.... who is it that all of these people are so afraid of? Me... or King Stilinski?"

"Both, probably,"

That wasn't very helpfull...

"And who is it that _you_ are afraid of?"

The woman shifted slightly, glancing outside the window

"What are these questions all about?"

"Nothing specific, only that... I can't help noticing how unnerved people are by my presence, I just want to know why, your daughter seems very fond of the king,"

"Yes, well... she would be, he saved her life once,"

That made Derek pause, confusion written all over his face

"What?"

"About a year ago, Lucy became very sick very suddenly, none of the healers we could afford to meet with could even tell us what was wrong with her, much less heal her, but King Stilinski... he head about it, he came to see us and healed her himself, insisting the entire time that we owed him no debt and he wouldn't allow us to pay him a price,"

"That sounds amazing... so why do you seem so hostile towards him?"

Better to just have all of the cards on the table so there are no misunderstandings, he figured

"Most of the people in the kingdom are in support of the prince taking over the throne, sympathizing with King Stilinski could ostracize you from everyone else and may even insight violence towards you, a good word about a king isn't worth my family's safety, besides, he may have done one good deed, but he still murdered his step-mother and poisoned his father, I wouldn't go calling him a saint just for saving a little girl free of charge,"

Derek frowned, feeling an odd sense of... anger... on Stiles' behalf

Anger and sadness and even a strange loneliness

Here was someone who could really help Stiles keep his kingdom in order, help him with his reputation and even possibly prevent being overthrown, and she was blatantly refusing to do it...

Plus, something about that story didn't sit right with him, he couldn't pin what it was but it just sounded off...

One thing was certain though, there was more going on here than he had first thought, and he was going to get to the bottom of it

No matter what it took

 

~+~

 

Stiles peeked around the corner, his heart racing a little bit faster as he checked to make sure that the coast was clear

Sure if anyone else was around his faithfull companion would alert him to their presence, but he could never be too carefull

Once he had determined beyond a doubt that there was no one watching him, he stepped out from behind the corner and walked rather briskly towards the door at the end of the hall

He snapped his pendant off of the cord around his neck, brushing his thumb across it to remove the glamor and watching it emerge as it's true form: A key

The only key to this door...

He slipped it into the lock and pulled a torch from it's place on the wall next to him, holding it out in front of the raven and waiting patiently as the bird inhaled a great, deep breath, before blowing out a rush of fire and lighting the torch

He took a breath, opening the door and stepping down onto the first step of the stairwell that the door lead to, shutting and locking it behind him before starting his way down the long, winding staircase

Although the entire place was lit by torches, Stiles always felt better just to have one of his own, just in case

The journey was shorter than it felt, and all too familiar as he finally got to the bottom of the stairwell and, just for insurance, checked the hall to make sure he was alone, before slowly walking down towards the door at the end of the hallway

The only door

The only room in this entire section of the castle- and for very good reason

"Sorry Parrish, I need to go alone today,"

The bird squawked, clearly not happy with that, but Stiles was determined, holding his free hand out for the bird to fly to and waiting patiently until he did

"Sorry, I won't do this again next time, I promise," he said softly, gently flexing his hand and causing the bird to fly off of it, fluttering a few feet before being engulfed in smoke and shifting into the familiar form of a large black dog, laying down with discontent on the floor to wait for the king

"Thanks," Stiles said a bit weakly, slipping his key into the lock and opening the door

The room was as nice as always, large and spacious without being excessive

It was well lit and peacefull and even had a window- though it was fake, it streamed artificial light in every day and night from a false sun and a false moon

Sometimes it even showed rain or even snow in the winter

Stiles was quite proud of it, he had to admit, it was probably his favorite creation

But it didn't matter right now, right now he had something else he was far more concentrated on

He carefully shut the door behind him, shifting the key back into a pendant and reattaching it to the cord around his neck before staring at the large, luxurious bed in the center of the room, decorated in soft burgandies and a few hints of black

But it wasn't the bed it's self that Stiles was minding- it was the person laying in the center of it

He inhaled deeply, slowly making his way towards his familiar spot by the window

This was both the hardest part of his day, as well as- strangely- the best on most occassions

Getting to see him, talk to him, pretend that he could hear everything Stiles was saying....

He missed this, he missed being able to talk to him, he missed his laughter, his voice, everything about him, he just .... he wanted him back so badly, but this was enough for now

He knew within reason that he may never completely heal and wile he definitely couldn't say anything so arrogant, like he was ok with that or something, he could atleast make peace with it for now

He could atleast _deal_ with this for now, as long as he could still have these daily meetings...

As long as he could still have those, then he could push on forward and make it through... he hoped

"Hey Dad," he said quietly, leaning against the mattress as he reached out and took his father's hand

"I got engaged yesterday, isn't that something?"

 

~+~

 

"Stiles? I need to talk to you about something,"

"I know, I know, I promise I'm going to talk to you later about our _wedding plans_ but I'm late for a meeting and I still have a little bit of research to do-"

"It isn't about that, I just want to know where the library is,"

That caught the witch by quite a bit of surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise

"O-Oh.... right, yeah, ofcourse, um... Parrish here'll show you where it is," he explained, gently offering the dog by his feet out towards the werewolf

The dog didn't seem at all pleased, but reluctantly started walking forward anyway

"Right.... thanks," Derek said somewhat hesitantly, sparing Stiles one last glance before following the dog down the hallway

Stiles waited a beat until he was absolutely sure that the wolf was gone before allowing a small smirk to grace his features, glancing over his shoulder at the wall behind him

"You're getting quite good at that glamor Lydia,"

The young woman huffed, stepping away from the wall that she had been blending in with and not even bothering to look at Stiles as she did so

"Let me guess, you want me to follow him?"

"Intuitive... you're getting quite good at that too,"

 

~+~

 

Derek wasn't sure what he was looking for, if he was being entirely honest

He had pulled out a small stack of books that looked like they might be mildly interesting, but he couldn't really hope that they had any of the information he was looking for

He wanted to find out more about Stiles, in particular, about his history, but he wasn't sure where to start or how to go about it

He had gently insisted that the dog stay outside of the library and had shut the door behind him upon entry- he wasn't sure why, but something about that dog felt ... almost human...- and now here he was alone, sifting through books looking for a lead that probably just wasn't there

His ears perked at the sound of the library door opening, and his nose twitched at the familiar scent that was suddenly invading his senses

"I know you're there, don't bother hiding," he noted, not even bothering to glance over his shoulder and smirking as he heard the huff of breath that that earned from the stranger

"What is it that you want?" he asked briskly

"I'm just here to check on you," Stiles' advisor- her name ... he didn't remember her name, did he even know it?- said from behind him

"'Check on' or 'spay on'?"

"Whatever term makes you more comfortable,"

Derek resisted the urge to roll his eyes, finally turning around and glancing at the woman with only slight irritation

"Let me guess, Stiles sent you?"

He wasn't sure if he really wanted her to answer that or not- he had a pretty good feeling that he already knew the answer anyway, but he had felt compelled to ask

"Would it make you feel better or worse if I said 'yes'?"

Derek.... didn't know how to answer that one, if he should be honest or venture a lie

"What are you looking for anyway?" she asked after a beat

"Information about the king, I'm trying to find his history,"

"Well you won't find it here, it hasn't been recorded yet- too recent, and even if it had been, it would almost certainly be inaccurate,"

Derek had figured that much honestly, all books were controlled by the narrators, and it didn't seem like too many people around here were fans of the young king....

"You seem to know alot about him, why don't you tell me then?"

The woman thought through that for a moment, letting it settle and turn the gears in her mind before finally speaking again

"Alright, Stiles' story starts the way most do, he was happy once upon a time, his life was good, until the day his mother passed away, he lost her when he was eight years of age, for almost a decade his father had refused to marry anyone else, despite pressure from the Council insisting that he do just that, he refused to give in... until he met a woman named Natalie, he fell in love with her right away and they were married by the time Stiles was eighteen, Stiles didn't trust his new step-mother, nor did he trust her two children, and... his distrust was with good reason, his step-mother wasn't interested in sharing the role of a leader with the king and decided to get him out of the way, she poisoned his food and decided to frame Stiles for it, luckily, however, her daughter found out about these plans and went to warn Stiles, and they managed to save the king's life... but only just, the king had ingested enough of the poison that even after using all of his magic Stiles could only keep him in a state of permenant sleep, out of anger and fear for his father's life, and with no magic left in his body, Stiles took his mother's sword- a family heirloom- and used it to kill his step-mother, as such, the public labelled him a murderer and blames him for his father's coma, insisting that he took away his parent and step-parent as a means to get the throne, ever since they've insisted that his step-brother Theo take the place of King, Theo is as manipulative and cruel as his mother, and he's always been good at getting people to side with him no matter what the reason or cause, now... now it's been taken to an extreme,"

"And what of the princess?"

"She became his lead advisor, one of the only people who knows the truth of what happened that night and is still loyal to him, and one of the only people he can trust for that matter,"

"So... you're the princess?" he asked slowly

"I prefer not to use that title, my mother tried to steal royalty for our family, none of us deserve the superficial titles we have, besides, 'princess' implies that I'm nothing but a figurehead to be used as a marital bargaining chip, I much prefer being known as an advisor,"

"Don't let my sister hear you say that about princesses, she'll rip you to peices," Derek said with a small smirk

"Most princesses would," she confessed with a small smirk

"But that's another problem for another day, right now my priority is getting my brother away from this throne, and you're going to help me do that," she explained, holding her hand out politely towards him

"Lydia Martin, pleased to meet you,"

 

~+~

 

"You're not evil at all are you?"

Stiles glanced up from the books he was skimming through, staring at Derek with a mixture of surprise and worry on his face

"Um... 'evil' is a relative term..."

He knew that Derek had sought him out specifically for his reputation, what if not being the bad guy Derek was looking for was going to prompt the werewolf to bail out on their arrangement?

He couldn't let that happen, not when they were so incerdibly close, not when everything was almost working...

"You didn't poison your father and you only killed your step-mother to protect your kingdom, you healed a sick little girl and are letting the people think you're evil for.... actually I haven't gotten that far yet," the wolf confessed with a slight frown

"Yeah well... you aren't evil either, everyone thinks you're responsible for the fire that killed your family but you aren't, I know the Argents, I know what they're capable of, you're no more responsible for your family's death than I am for my father's- and he isn't dead, ergo- not responsible at all,"

Derek shifted his weight, looking down at the floor as he allowed all of this to roll around in his head

"So.... we're just two normal kings with bad reputations?"

"Well, I don't know about _normal_ ," Stiles smirked, flexing his fingers as a ball of flames appeared in his palm

"I mean, this is pretty cool right? And I don't see every king doing this,"

Derek managed a smirk, snorting quietly and raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, that's pretty cool Circe, now can we go back to focusing on the problems at hand?"

The flames disappeared, allowing Stiles to lean back on his throne and tap his fingers against the armrests

"I'm sorry Derek, I wish I had better news, but I'm still looking into the best way to go about _planning our wedding_ , I promise, we'll be able to discuss it tommorrow afternoon, I won't put it off again,"

Derek took a breath, teeth digging against his tongue

He knew Stiles was doing the best, he could hear it in his voice and see it written all over his face- but he couldn't help being terrified for his kingdom, for what might happen in the mean time

"Stiles-"

The sound of a bird flying in through the window cut him off, alerting him to the small starling that had flown in and landed on Stiles' outstretched hand

The bird let out a few caws, wings fluttering and feathers bristling as Stiles nodded and hummed as if having a conversation

He would never understand magic-folk and their endless communication methods, they couldn't talk to animals per se, but they had a few select creatures in their charge who they could communicate in some way that Derek just couldn't grasp

"Your sister just arrived," Stiles noted suddenly, drawing his attention away from his thoughts

"Go and see her, dinner will be ready soon, I'll send for you when it is,"

Derek nodded- albeit reluctantly- and left the room

He couldn't help hesitating outside, his mind rushing and racing with too many thoughts, too many problems, too many questions unanswered, and in his hesitation, he happened to overhear a conversation that clearly wasn't meant for him

_"Lydia, I'll be in the library tonight, if anyone asks at dinner tell them I'm ill,"_

_"Stiles, you can't skip dinner,"_

_"If you're concerned then bring me an apple or something, but I'm low on ideas and I can't keep Derek waiting, he has a deadline, and if I'm being honest, so do I, you said yourself that I have very limited time to clean up this mess,"_

All he heard after that was a reluctant sigh, and he had a feeling it was one of affirmation

Suddenly Derek felt his own sense of urgency, a somber feeling creeping under his skin

Stiles was running himself dry looking for a solution to their problems, and all Derek had been doing was pressing him and making it worse...

He let out a breath, forcing himself to walk away from the door and head for the outside to greet his sister

He needed to work harder to help Stiles, he just wasn't sure how....

 

~+~

 

"And you really think he's going to help you with this?"

"I know that he is, I trust him Cora, I trust him completely,"

His sister seemed skeptickal, but only moderately so, her shoulders sagging with acceptance as she stared up at her older brother

"If you say so... I trust your judgement, just ... be carefull,"

"I know," he said quietly

It was important that Cora trusted him, especially trusted his judgement in people, considering the last time he trusted someone it had ended in his family's death....

"So, why exactly can't he just kill this Theo person?"

"It would martyr him, they already want Stiles off of the throne and this would get him tossed off for sure, and probably executed for that matter,"

"Can't he just have someone else do it for him?"

"Not without arousing suspicion, there's no solid proof that he was responsible for his step-mother's death or his father's poisoning, it's just speculation, Theo started the rumors and people have believed him about it, it's only because of the lack of proof that Stiles has kept his throne, if there's any more scandal though..."

"They won't care about proof, they'll just assume,"

And unfortunately the court of public opinion wasn't as legally inclined as an actual court, they didn't need proof to judge anyone, and with so much of Stiles' court on Theo's side, Derek questioned how much the king's security would be able to protect him

Cora gave a loud sigh, sitting down in the chair behind her and rubbing her forehead

"This is too much... we have enough to handle with our own problems, we can't take on someone else's too, wich is why I still think it's too much to expect for Stilinski to take on our's in addition to his own,"

That... that made Derek pause, a realization dawning over him, eyes wide and mouth falling open

"You're right, it IS too much to expect anyone to take on twice as many problems," he said quietly, eyes lighting up with determination

"I think I have an idea, and if I'm right, we'll both be rid of our problems soon,"

 

~+~

 

"You want us to ... switch enemies?"

"Something like that," Derek nodded

"I'll take care of Theo, you take care of the Argents, that way neither of us can be accused of being directly associated with either,"

"It doesn't matter, if anything happens to Theo Stiles will be the first suspect, no matter if he was involved or not," Lydia pointed out

"Not unless nothing 'happens' to Theo, listen.... I have a plan, but I need you to trust me, I can handle this, I just... need you to trust me,"

There was a long, tense pause before Stiles finally gave a slow nod, leaning back in his chair

"I trust you," he promised

A breath of releif passed out of his lungs, giving the other king a sincere smile

"Thank you..."

"Ofcourse, this is what our entire plan was about right? Helping eachother, so... you get rid of Theo, I'll get rid of the Argents, what else do you need?"

The wolf began to smirk, eyes lighting up mischeviously

"When was the last time you threw a party?"

 

~+~

 

"I don't get it, what are you planning to do? Even if you kill him it'll just be traced back to Stiles,"

"Oh I'm not going to kill him, we're going to prove that Stiles is innocent, once we do that and prove that Theo is lying then no one will be rooting for him anymore," Derek insisted

Cora stared at him skeptickally, eyebrows raised in disbeleif as she followed her brother down the hall

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Stiles' father is still alive, in a coma, we need to wake him up, he can tell everyone what really happened,"

"And how are we going to do _that_? If even a witch can't pull him out of it what makes you think you can?"

"Stiles couldn't heal him any better than he did because he doesn't know what poison was used, all we have to do is figure that out and then Stiles can reverse the effects,"

"Yeah, 'all' we have to do," Cora snorted back

"How are we going to do that when even the best healers in this kingdom couldn't?"

"We get Theo to tell us what poison his mother used,"

"Derek... I know I keep saying this, but _**how** are we going to do that?_ "

The king paused, turning on his heel and smirking at his younger sister

"How do you feel about doing a little acting?"

 

~+~

 

"You think you can get rid of the Argents this easily? Stiles.... people have been trying for _decades_ to extinguish that line, what makes you think you can do it with virtually no help?"

"Well, first of all, I'll have plenty of help, and second of all, I'm going to use their own techniques against them, the Argents are master manipulators right? So I'll just have to manipulate them right back,"

"And you really think whatever you're planning is going to work?" Lydia asked skeptickally

"It has to, if it doesn't... we're all screwed,"

"Well," she mused, sighing quietly

"Atleast you're honest,"

 

~+~

 

For the next three days, those involved in the plans spent their time sketching out all of the details- atleast, as much as they possibly could

By the end of the third day the two kings finally sat down in the library to share their ideas with eachother, to make sure they were on the right tracks and not missing any important details

"You really think this is going to work?" Stiles asked worriedly

It was kind of weird hearing those words come out of his mouth, considering he was usually hearing them from other people directed towards him

His plans had always been known to be somewhat off-the-wall

"I'm not sure, but it's the only choice we have, we don't have time to plan anything else, All Hallow's Eve is in a few days and I feel certain that's when Kate is planning her attack, it's the anniversary of my family's death... exactly the kind of sick humor she'd like to celebrate, and who knows how much longer you have before your step-brother finally gets back in the castle?"

Stiles nodded, staring down at the pages they had been sorting through with a quiet sigh

He hoped this would work, it was the only plan they had

If it didn't....

If it didn't, he didn't know how much longer either of them would even be alive, much less kings

"Don't worry," Derek said a beat later

"I think it'll work, one thing both of our enemies have in common is their egos, neither of them will pass up the chance to brag about their 'accomplishments' if they think there's no risk of getting caught, hell even then I'm not sure that Kate would pass up the chance,"

"You're not wrong," Stiles shrugged back with a small smirk, leaning back against one of the shelves and allowing his fingers to move up and start to play over the witch's knot around his neck

With a quiet sigh, he carefully tugged the pendant off and gently ran his thumb over it, allowing the glamor to fade and reveal the key beneath it

"Here, I want you to have this,"

Derek glanced up, raising his eyebrows as Stiles took his hand and gently placed the pendant in his palm

"What? Why?"

"If anything should happen-"

"Nothing is going to happen,"

"But if it should... this is the key to my dad's room, the ONLY key, not even Lydia has one, I... wanted to make sure it never fell into the wrong hands, that there was never a chance anyone but me could get into that room through the door, the only other people with access are the healers who have to use a complicated spell to get in through the cellar door, and they always have to go in pairs, it's as secure as I can make it,"

"And.. you want me to have this instead of Lydia? You trust her more than anyone..."

"No, I trust Parrish more than anyone, but it's hard for him to keep ahold of the key,"

"Parrish... your dog?"

"Actually he's a shapeshifter, he was my dad's most trusted guard back in the day, but he spends most of his time in an animal form these days so... again, difficult,"

"I ... still don't understand, why would you give this to me? You can't possibly trust me this much,"

"I do, I trust you with my life Derek, I mean... we don't exactly have a choice you know? We"re sorta all in with eachother here don't you think? But it isn't just that, if the worst happens and Theo gets control, he'll have Lydia locked up immediately, he has no rule over you, you'll be the only one who can keep my dad safe, Parrish will go with you, it's ... it's the safest thing for him, my dad is all I have, you have to look after him .... please?"

"As long as you promise to look after Cora if something happens to me," he agreed quietly

"I don't have anything to give you as insurance but... if something happens to me, then Cora is the last thing my family has, the last Hale Alpha, the last Hale queen.... and the only person I have in the universe, promise me you'll protect her if I'm not around to anymore,"

"I promise," Stiles nodded, giving a slight smirk

"I can't promise she'll be too happy about it though,"

"No no, she'll hate me and spit on my grave for sure, possible hate you and spit on your shoes at that, but ... she may not have to know, you have magic, there are plenty of ways to protect people without them catching on when you have magic,"

"Oh I don't know if there are as many as you think," Stiles snorted back teasingly

"You'll figure something out, you're very resourcefull," Derek shrugged honestly in return

He had never met anyone as resoucefull and clever as Stiles for that matter, the witch was kind of stunning in regards to his creativity and capability to make alot out of a little

Even though he had only known the other king for a matter of days, he already respected and admired him greatly, and he had more than observed the witch's ability to make something amazing out of virtually nothing

"It's weird, isn't it?" Stiles asked suddenly

"In just a few days, we're either gonna win our fight..."

"Or be dead," Derek concluded

Stiles gave a slight laugh, nodding slowly and leaning against the other man, reaching down and looping their fingers together

He enjoyed Derek's presence

He enjoyed being around Derek, talking to him, even just being near him

It was sad to think that when all of this was over he probably wouldn't see him again, atleast, not for a long time if ever...

"I guess so, yeah," he finally said, going quiet for another few moments

They just sat in silence for a time, letting their minds wander, letting the world and the circumstanaces sort of sink in

It was a strangely peacefull moment

"For what it's worth," Stiles mused

"I'm glad that you came to me for help,"

Derek's lips curved up slightly into a smile, leaning against the other man and closing his eyes

"Yeah.... so am I,"

 

~+~

 

It was an unusually cold night for late October

Weather like this didn't typically hit until December, but it was absolutely freezing...

Stiles couldn't sleep, he knew part of it was due to anxiety over the fact that their plans were going to kick off tommorrow, but crimmany a big pat of it was due to the freezing cold air too

With a reluctant sigh he sat up, rolling out of bed and headed over to the dogbed in the corner of the room where Parrish was sleeping.... right in front of the fireplace

Ofcourse

"Hey? ... Hey Parrish? Wake up, I need something,"

The dog's ears twitched to life and he was immediately lifting his head, staring up at Stiles patiently waiting for an instruction

"I'm FREEZING in here... think you can give us a little fire power?"

He seemed none too pleased at that, but ultimately gave a snort and tumbled out of his dog bed, getting at the appropriate distance before sucking in a huge, bellowing breath and puffing out a massive gust of flames into the fireplace

Just seeing the thing light up was already enough to warm him

Technically, Stiles could start fires himself

He had more than enough magic

But his fires were barely lit matches in comparison to what Parrish could do and it seemed like almost a silly thing to waste a gift like that

"Hey.... think we should go heat Derek's room too?"

He knew it wasn't fair to keep his companion awake just because Stiles couldn't sleep, but he was sincerely worried about Derek's comfort- well.. mostly sincerely

What if he needed to be warmer?

What if he was laying in bed as an icicle right now?

What if he woke up half frozen all because Stiles didn't think to offer in sharing his good fortune?

(The good fortune, ofcourse, being a fire-breathing shapeshifter)

"I promise, just his,"

His father's room had quite an internal heating and cooling system in it and Lydia...

Wile he was sure she could probably use the fire, he was even MORE sure that no matter how good his intentions or what the circumstances may be, if she found out he was in her room she would make him into a pelt to hang on her wall....

He shuddered just thinking about it

But, ultimately- thankfully- Parrish agreed to go and check on Derek's room

It was a gurantee at this point that neither of them had ever been more glad that the guest room was only a few doors down from Stiles' bedroom, making it more than easy enough to get to and not nearly as big of a pain as Parrish had been dreading

The witch opened the door with ease, a small blue flame glowing in his palm to light their way as they stepped into the guest room

Derek was sound asleep in bed, and Stiles- for a moment- wondered how the hell he did it

How did he put aside the anxiety that Stiles KNEW he was having and still manage to sleep anyway?

It would always be a mystery to him....

But that wasn't the point

The point was that wile Derek WAS, in fact, sleeping soundly, he was also curled up as tightly as he could be underneath the blankets, and that just wouldn't do

With a nod in the right direction- literally- Stiles gently pushed Parrish towards the fire place and watched as the dog repeated his earlier trick

Take in big gust of air, breathe out bigger gust of fire

It was still fun to watch even after all these years of doing so

"Ok, let's go," Stiles insisted quietly, nodding towards the door once he was certain that the fire was stable

Unfortunately.... they didn't quite make it to the door without getting caught

"Stiles?" the witch heard, wincing as he slowly turned around

And that wince turned then into a full on look of adoration

Derek was half-sitting up, more groggy than Stiles could probably find words to describe, rubbing at his eyes and staring at Stiles the way some people stared off into space, not really present but not completely gone yet either

It was kind of cute, in a weird sort of way

"Stiles... where're you going?"

"Back to bed Big Guy," he said quietly

Derek seemed rather confused for a few moments, blinking slowly and trying to regain some symbalance of his senses

(It wasn't working very well)

"I'm just going back to bed," Stiles repeated carefully, hoping that this time Derek would understand

"Bed?" Derek mumbled, still clearly clouded in his sleep haze and staring at Stiles as if he were some sort of three-headed creature from another dimension

Clearly he was going to have to get a little bit more explicit here if he had any hopes at all of Derek catching on

"I just came in to check on you since it's so cold outside, that's all, Parrish stoked your fire for you to keep you warm,"

Well, to put it in simple terms atleast

"'S'cold...." Derek repeated in a mumble

He looked like he was about to tip over and fall back asleep at any second and honestly Stiles wanted him to

Not because this wasn't ADORABLE, but because he clearly, clearly needed his sleep, and Stiles didn't want to be responsible for preventing him from having it

"Yeah, very cold," the witch replied, faking a shiver in the hopes that Derek, even in this sleep addled state, would understand

Derek was quiet for a few moments, seeming almost... skeptickal, like he didn't quite believe Stiles, before a slight, warm smile crossed over his face, and lo and behold....

It worked

"Thanks..." the werewolf mumbled sleepily, yawning once before slinking back down in bed and crashing again as if nothing ever happened

Well would you look at that?

Stiles seriously doubted he'd remember this encounter in the morning- or ever, most likely, but as for Stiles....

Stiles would remember it

The softness on Derek's face, the gentleness in his voice...

He was stashing this one away in the memory bank as something to refer to when times were bad, something to help him sleep at night when the nightmares were too much or the insomnia was getting to him

It was kind of ironic, he figured as he walked slowly out of Derek's room, following Parrish back into his own bed chambers and feeling a surprising sleepiness fall over him

He had gone to all of this trouble to make sure that _Derek_ could get a good night's sleep, but in the end, it was Derek who had given Stiles something to help _him_ get a good night's sleep...

Stiles loved ironic things like that

 

~+~

 

"The King would like to formally invite you all to a ball being held at the castle on All Hallow's Eve, to celebrate his engagement, the citizens of Lyacon will also be invited, giving you the opportunity to meet for the first time,"

Derek was barely listening to the announcer as he bellowed out the details of the "invitation", his concentration was much more on Cora, giving her a single nod as she finally stepped away from the carriage and began her part of the mission

Cora's role in this was crucial, if she failed, not only would it make it almost impossible to find out what poison had been used on the previous king, but it may also alert him to what they were trying to do and overall ruin their plans completely...

He hoped against hope that this would go well....

\--

"Are you the prince?"

The light-haired man glanced up at her over his shoulder, a "charming" (and by "charming" she meant "sickening") smirk crossing over his face as he stared up at her

"I am, and you're the Hale princess, aren't you?"

"That's right," Cora nodded, taking a step closer to the stranger

"May I join you?"

"Mm... that's a good question, your brother and my step-brother are betrothed aren't they? I'm sure you're aware that I'm trying to dethrone my evil step-brother, so what business would you have with me that isn't negative?"

"You want to dethrone your brother... and I want to kill mine," she replied simply, wich succeeded in grabbing Theo's attention

"Perhaps we have more to discuss than I thought.... please, do have a seat,"

Cora gave a small smirk, nodding and making her way over to the table Theo was sitting at

If there was any saving grace to the situation that Stiles was in, it was that he had atleast forced Theo out of the castle and he was now living in a considerably small house in a random village outside the palace walls

It not only made things a little bit easier for her- less people around to potentially overhear and interrupt their plans- but it obviously was a releif to Stiles as well, giving him much needed privacy

"So, you want to kill your brother... is there any specific reason why?"

"My reason isn't all that different from your's, my brother is The Wicked King, he needs to be taken care of, for the safety of my kingdom, besides... I've always wanted to be Queen,"

"Sounds like you need all the help you can get," Theo said wih an arrogant grin, lifting the cup of tea he was drinking to his lips and taking another slow sip

"I do, I'm hoping that you can lend me a hand,"

"I'm sorry... but I'm not sure how I could be of service,"

She was expecting this, it was fine, she knew how she was going to handle it

"I respect you, Prince Martin, so I'm not going to insult your intellegence by pretending that I don't know that your mother poisoned the old king, don't worry, I won't tell anyone, I just want to know what kind of poison she used,"

"Why would you want that? Wouldn't Wolfsbane work just as well?" Theo asked with a frown

"In theory... but I don't JUST want to kill my brother, I also want to frame King Stilinski, he's really gotten under my skin and I have a feeling that if his fiance' croaks he'll just keep digging his nose in where it doesn't belong, why not take out two birds with one stone?"

"I like the way you think," Theo smirked

It was killing Cora inside to talk like this, to even think about her brother being dead, but she was invested in playing the role, just acting out a part

Lydia had given her a pendant before she left that morning that would mask her dishonesty- Theo may not have inherited his family's psychic gifts like his sister, but he didn't have to be psychic to know when someone was lying- but even so, it was better not to tempt fate

She needed to be as believable as possible

"If I can accomplish this, I'll take out both my problem, AND your problem, maybe one day you'll decide to repay me the favor I'm doing for you,"

She had witnessed enough negotiations to know that when you're asking for something with nothing to give in return, the best thing to do is to make it sound like you're doing them a favor somehow

And apparently, it actually worked

"Alright," Theo relented with a nod

"I like the way you think, but as I'm sure you can understand, I can't have this traced back to me... just in case,"

"Ofcourse not,"

"I'll have someone deliver the name of the poison to you tommorrow, fair?"

"That'll work," Cora promised, a smirk of her own playing against her face

"That'll work beautifully,"

 

~+~

 

"Don't you think there's another way?"

In honesty, as much as he appreciated Lydia's idealism, sometimes he wished she would just stop trying to detour him from doing what he had to do

It made the already difficult decision that much harder to go through with

"No," he replied briskly, tieing his bag shut and picking it up to throw over his shoulder

"Stiles, you're really going to kill half a dozen people? Your hands will be soaked in blood,"

"They already are, unless you've forgotten what happened to your mother,"

That caused the step-princess to bite the inside of her lip, frustration brimming under her skin as she took several brisk steps towards him and grabbed ahold of his arm

"That's different, we both know it, you cannot honestly tell me that it'll be easy for you to just.... end six lives no matter how horrid they may be, you still have nightmares about my mother, and you didn't even have a _choice_ then, you're really going to tell me that it won't haunt you for the rest of your life to see six more faces in your sleep- who hadn't even attacked you to begin with?"

"I'm not saying that," he corrected, adjusting his bag and starting for the carriage

"But I don't have a choice, I'm a _king_ now Lydia, the most important thing- the ONLY important thing- is keeping my kingdom safe, getting rid of the Argents not only cements my half of the deal with Derek but it solves a problem that would have started brewing sooner or later anyway, you and I both know that they burn entire lands to ashes, once they've polished off the Hales who do you think they'll come for next?"

He had a point...

He had a point and she knew that but she also knew _Stiles_

For as much as he tried to be the tough guy, as much as he sported the dark, elaborate clothes of an evil king and acted the part of someone wicked and terrifying, he was a soft, sensitive soul, and hurting people- much less killing them- kept him up at night and tortured him day in and day out

Even before her mother had died, she often witnessed him ill whenever the guards harmed a prisoner, and when it came to executions- wich happened far less often here than they did in most kingdoms simply because of the Stilinskis and their soft hearts- Stiles was always a wreck

His father, unlike most kings, had never forced him to watch someone's life end, and Stiles had never requested to be present for it either

It had always been an issue between the king and the Council when it came to Stiles' involvement in executions, they insisted he would mature to be a weak, overly sensitive king who could never pull the trigger when necessary if he didn't watch the proceedings atleast once in a wile

King Stilinski had always rebuffed them, and it looked like he had been right to do so

When it came right down to it, Stiles seemed to have absolutely no problem with ending her mother's life to spare his father

He hadn't shown guilt or remorse or hesitation at all

...

Atleast, not until days after, when the shock had disappeared, the greiving had worn off, and reality settled in

When pushed into a corner and met with a crisis Stiles had the brutality of any other king, and unlike the others, he actually allowed his hands to get dirty

It was only when had the choice of mercy on the table that his willingness to pull the trigger died away

But Lydia knew how troubled his soul was, she heard him screaming at night and saw the sleepless bags under his eyes every morning

He couldn't take any more nightmares and she shuddered to think what this would do to him

"Did Liam do as I asked?" he asked suddenly, pulling her away from her thoughts

"Yes, he took Allison and Chris to his home to keep them from being there,"

Not all Argents were bad- albeit most were- Allison had met Stiles before she started training as a hunter and the two had become close freinds, despite the fact that he was a witch

As such she had become quickly in favor of stopping the reckless and senseless hunting of the supernatural, and slowly, her father had begun to agree with her

The same could not be said for the rest of the clan- clearly

The door to the carriage swung open, Stiles immediately tossed his bag inside and paused, glancing back at Lydia and her worried expression

"Do you think.... do you think if all of this works and Derek really does clear my name..... do you think the kingdom will ... accept me again?"

Just hearing that question broke her heart, but she understood where it came from

It was no secret that the people didn't like Stiles now, thought that he was an evil king

But it hadn't always been that way at all

Once upon a time Stiles had been practically cherished in the kingdom, everyone loved him when he was a small child, but after his mother had fallen ill and passed away people started to become more distant

It was unclear if it was out of respect- trying to give him space- or because the happy and carefree child Stiles had once been died with his mother that day, and his citizens didn't quite know how to handle the darker, more mature prince that had evolved from the ashes

Either way, it hurt

Stiles was hurting and it broke her heart to see him like this

"I think so," she promised with a gentle smile, reaching out to give her step-brother's arm a tight squeeze

"I think when all of this is over, you're going to be surprised by how many people support your reign,"

"I hope you're right," he said quietly, forcing a smile and wishing her a fond farewell as he stepped into the carriage and shut the door

"I really hope you're right...."

 

~+~

 

All Hallow's Eve arrived too quickly for his taste

It was a shame really, All Hallow's had always been Derek's favorite night of the year

Until Kate Argent used that sacred night to take away nearly everything that he loved... all except for Cora and his cousin

Now though, now things were about to change

He had all of the faith in the world in Stiles, and as long as their plans went along smoothly, they would soon be able to reclaim this night for themselves

All Hallow's Eve had always "belonged"- in a way- to the supernatural world, humans shared in it as a way of bridging the gap between them, but no one celebrated it like the folks of night

Even now, when he was more nervous than he had ever been before, he had a sense of calm- a sense of peace and strength, that came from merely this night's existance

As he and Cora walked down the long stretch of cobblestone floor to make their way to the front of the ballroom, he managed to keep himself steady and sure just by feeling the magic and the power of All Hallow's Eve flowing through him

He knew that Cora could feel it too, he could sense it vibrating in her bones the same way it vibrated in his

He didn't even mind the stares of all the people around them- some anxious, nervous or afraid, others angry or resentfull, full of contempt

Usually those stares would have him buckling under the pressure, barely able to keep himself upright and resisting the urge to crumble beneath them, but not tonight

Tonight was his night, and by Goddess, he was going to reclaim it

"If I may have your attention," he bellowed the moment he arrived at the front of the room

It was more than safe to say that the attention of the crowd was quite easily his, given the silence that had fallen over them and the way their eyes never flinched away from staring at him

"I promised you that if you attended this ball tonight, you would be gifted with a surprise, I'm here to deliver on my promise,"

With a deep inhale, he glanced over at the guard by the door and gave a single nod- the signal needed for the guard to open the door

Derek could hear gasps coming from every single person in the room

From young to old, from rich to poor, everyone of every status and ranking of power

No one had expected to see King John Stilinski, alive and well and on his feet for the first time in three years, that much was blatantly obvious

Lydia was smiling warmly, though there was more than a hint of a smirk on her face as she lead the king- former king?- down the center aisle of the room and towards where Derek and Cora were standing

This was Derek's first time seeing- much less meeting- Stiles' father

When they had finally gotten the poison needed to revive him a few days ago Stiles had insisted on giving him the antidote alone, and ever since they had only seen eachother with a few glimpses of Lydia and the castle's private healers sprinkled in between

Derek hadn't asked or offered to see him- it wasn't his place

The moment the older king was in front of the Alpha wolf, he clapped a hand on Derek's shoulder, saying a quiet "Thank you" under his breath before turning to face the awestruck crowd before him

"My son filled me in on what's been happening during my three year absence," he said, his voice strong, steady and booming with respect and wisdom

"I'm here to tell you personally that whatever rumors were started by my step-son, Theodore Martin, are absolutely **false** ,"

If Derek had thought there'd been alot of gasping when the king walked in, that was nothing compared to the fan fair this was receiving

"I was poisoned by Natalie Martin, my wife and queen at the time, she would have successfully killed me if not for my step-daughter Lydia and my son Miezycslaw, or... Stiles, you probably better know him, they were the ones who found me in time, Stiles healed me the best he could but without knowing what the poison was all he could do was spare my life, leaving me in a coma for the last three years, it's true that he killed his step-mother, but only to protect the life of his step-sister, who was in immediate danger when her mother found out she had been responsible for interrupting my death,"

Derek was a little surprised that the king lied like that- or maybe it was the truth and Lydia had just left that detail out of the story to spare her own shame, he couldn't be sure- but then again...

The way Lydia had told it, Stiles killed his step-mother out of _anger_ , out of vengeance for his father and wanting to protect his kingdom in the future, there had been no imminent threat

A death that sketchy may be cause for Stiles' title to be stripped away, even possibly for a trial, but defending Lydia...

That left absolutely no room for misconception or error, and left the death of his step-mother perfectly justified

"My step-son has wanted the throne ever since I met him, I've known this, but I had hoped that the interest would eventually wane with time... it clearly did not, regardless, I'm here to tell you with certainty that anything my step-son has said regarding what happened that night- or anything else to do with Stiles- is a complete **lie** , and I urge you all not to believe in the slander he's trying to sell you,"

The room was abuzz with shocked gasps and wispers, and at the center of it all was Theo himself, looking every bit as shocked as the civilians- but considerably more afraid

"I never did anything wrong, I'm not the one who poisoned you OR killed my mother, there's nothing you can do but leave me be," the step-prince gritted with anger

"Not true, we can have you arrested for slander against the king, and we can have your title stripped from you," Lydia offered casually

"But even if we didn't, I think losing your credibility is punishment enough," Cora added with a smirk

Derek personally wouldn't go _quite_ that far, but he understood where she was coming from and it was still a pretty good price for him to pay

"Guards, if you will, arrest the prince and take him to a cell," the old king said with a pleased smirk

Derek had to admit, there was something inherently pleasant about watching a trio of guards wrangle Theo and forcefully drag him out of the ballroom

He wished Stiles was there to see it, he'd get a kick out of it for sure

But speaking of Stiles....

"There's something else," Derek announced almost suddenly, once again grasping the attention of the crowd before him

"I'm sure some of you are wondering where the current king is now, why he isn't at his own celebration, that question can easily be answered,"

He gave a glance over his shoulder at the guard once again, giving him another nod as the guard opened the door and allowed one of the servants to walk in, carrying a rather sizeable mirror and easily delivering it at Derek's feet

The Alpha wolf steadied the mirror, making sure it was in proper place and wasn't about to wobble or fall down at any moment before turning to Lydia and stepping aside, allowing her to come closer and wave her hand against the mirror

Lydia wasn't a witch or a sorceress, she didn't possess any magic of her own quality, but she was a banshee- a possessor of psychic gifts and a caller of the dead, wich was incidentally why her brother never inherited any of the same gifts

By being a banshee, she was automatically in tune with the other realms, and able to- for a time atleast- borrow faery magic in small quantities

Awakening the magic mirror that Stiles had enchanted before he left was hardly a difficult task for her

The mirror smoked and fogged for a long several moments, before finally displaying an image, the image of whatever Stiles was seeing now

 

~+~

 

Parrish didn't like this idea

As a rule, he rarely liked any of Stiles' ideas, but this one he found to be difficult to tolerate in particular

He wanted so badly to be home when his master came out of hiding for the first time in three years, but he supposed he should just feel lucky that he had been allowed to see the older king right away after he had woken from his coma

He knew that he needed to help Stiles, and he was integral to the witch's plan, but he just wished the plan was... you know, a little steadier, not as much of a gamble

Oh well, there wasn't much he could do

Stiles was a very strong-headed person, especially when it came to planning things out, he had known that since the kid was born, it would be foolish to think that after all this time he would suddenly change and become more cautious now

Admittedly, his mind was wandering as he walked through the garden

It wasn't intentional, but it was just rather... boring, in honesty, to keep wandering around here, waiting for someone to spot him, and he had let his mind wander of it's own accord by accident...

....

Wich was exactly how he had been caught off guard and ended up face to face with the end of a gun barrel

This _can't_ go well

"Well well well, look what we have here," crooned the blonde woman above him

If this was what the Hales had to deal with on a regular basis, then no wonder they were both so skittish and hard pressed to socialize

Parrish imagined that this woman would be haunting his dreams just after that one sentence and the thought of seeing her in _any_ type of frequent capacity made him shudder

"A stray wolf that wandered into our garden... I guess you don't know where you are, do you?"

He knew exactly where he was, but for the sake of playing along, he slowly shook his head, backing down, ears slicked back, trying to play off as timid and meek as he could possibly muster

"You're in Argent territory," the woman explained simply, tilting her head to the side and allowing her smirk to widen just an ounce

"I don't suppose you know what that means do you?"

Again, Parrish lied and shook his head, hoping that Stiles was getting all of this on the pendant he was wearing that would transmit the images back to a magic mirror at home

"It means that you're about to be killed by the best hunters in the world, you should feel pretty honored about that,"

"Just taking a guess here.... but I have a feeling he won't be as honored as you hope,"

Parrish's ears perked, lifting his head up proudly as the witch held his sword out towards the huntress' back, not touching it, not just yet, but he was coming awfully close

"What is this, an ambush?" the huntress asked with a snort, as if the very idea of being ambushed amused her in some sick way

Or maybe it wasn't that

Maybe it was just the idea of _Stiles_ ambushing her that had caused the sudden tantrum of giggles and laughs

He wasn't sure wich it was, but either way it was rather insulting

"You can't be serious," she noted rather plainly, smirking even more and giving a snort

"You really think you can take us on? And all alone at that?"

"Who said anything about being alone?" Stiles asked with a wicked grin

That was his cue, and Parrish couldn't be happier to obey it, wasting no time in allowing the wind to gush around him, picking up speed as he began to shift

He rose higher and higher

Grew bigger and bigger

Until finally the meek little wolf was no longer there

Instead, in his place, was an absolutely enormous black dragon, with peircing orange eyes and smoke easily filing out of his nostrils on every exhale

Stiles couldn't help feeling a sense of utter glee at the look of sheer terror on Kate's face, it gave him the much needed opportunity that he so desired

Easily, he lowered his sword- just barely, just enough- and grabbed the hunter's shoulder, spinning her around immediately and glaring at her as if she were the bane of his existence

And, in many ways, she really was

That was hardly an exaggeration

"What, did you want to see my face as you run me through with your sword?" she asked with a mocking tone

"No... I actually have a question for you," Stiles explained

This much seemed to take her off guard at the very least, and that was good

That was a start

"And what question could you possibly have to ask me?"

"How did you trick Derek Hale?" he asked almost immediately, cutting the humor straight from her face and causing a frown to take place instead

"Don't bother denying it, I know that you did, all of Beacon Hills no what you did,"

The look of shock slowly turned up into a grin instead, and then onto a full-on smirk, a quiet chuckle leaving her lungs as she stared at the witch in front of her

"I know that you did something dirty and underhanded to get the information you needed to blow the Hales to smitherines and I just want to know how you got it, from one master manipulator to the next,"

Things were quiet for a few, long moments

A few achingly, painfully long moments....

Before she started to smirk

Her eyes lighting up brightly as if Stiles had just told her some sort of hilarious joke

But Stiles wasn't laughing

"Did you really come all this way just to find out what I did to Derek Hale to get his information out of him? I don't know if I should find that adorable or concerning,"

"Well you'll have the rest of your life to think about it, so don't bother making a snap decision, I just need you to answer me: What did you do to Derek?"

The woman was quiet for a moment, before apparently deciding that either Stiles was right.... or she would have more fun just owning up to the truth

In honesty, Stiles himself still wasn't completely sure on how he was going to make the hunter talk if she had decided not to, so he was just glad for the sake of everyone involved that she was egotistical enough to give it a go

"What did you do?" he finally growled, swallowing tightly and gripping his sword harder

"Oh... just a little mermaid tears in his tea,"

That....

That made Stiles feel absolutely and utterly sick

Mermaid tears were a known component in love spells, and wile they couldn't make you obsessively in love with someone all on their own, they were great for lowering inhibitions and falsifying a sense of trust and respect

Kate hadn't only manipulated him, she didn't even do it with he own power alone, she had to use drugs too!

Somehow that just made all of it that much worse

"You used mermaid tears on him?" he snarled, anger boiling deep in his veins

And Kate....

She just thought it was funny

She let out a laugh, still grinning her sickening grin from ear to ear

"Why not? I had them to spare and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell me on his own,"

"You're despicable!"

"Way to throw stones at glass houses Mr. _Evil King_ ,"

"I would never mess with someone's consent that way! Or at all for that matter,"

If there was one thing Stiles truly prided himself on more than anything else, it was his certainty with consent

The hunter merely gave a shrug, looking rather nonchalant about it all as her grin finally faded down into something more of an egotistical smirk

"Well, that's all in the past now, what matters is that you're here.... and you're surrounded,"

And all at once...

All at once Stiles realized that he had been trapped, the color draining from his face as he heard the multiple swords being drawn from their sheaths and glanced around to see no less than eight other hunters surrounding them, each holding a weapon of some kind aimed directly at him

Stiles cursed quietly under his breath, tightening his grip on his own sword

He wasn't sure if he had been ambushed all of a sudden, or set up from the start, but either way...

This wasn't looking good

 

~+~

 

Watching it all unfold was the most surreal thing that Derek had ever experienced

He could feel his heart sinking into his stomach and his stomach rising into his chest and all sorts of other strange and nonsensical happenings that he couldn't quite explain

Hearing that he had been poisoned with mermaid tears...

That he hadn't actually given into her on his own...

It brought a very odd sense of releif to him

It made him feel as if maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as terrible as he first thought

Still, to be in a position where a hunter _could_ poison him with mermaid tears was a pretty sad and sorry state to begin with, but the fact that he was poisoned and hadn't just given up the information about his family willingly...

Well, it atleast helped a little bit

Now though, they had bigger problems

Much, _much_ bigger problems, and those problems had come in the form of hunters....

Derek needed to get there

Stiles couldn't take down that many alone, even if he did have Parrish to help him

"Can you transport me there somehow? Open up the magic mirror as a door?" he asked hopefully, glancing at Lydia with desperation written clearly across his face

"I can't, only a witch has that kind of magic, banshees can't even drawn it from anyone," she explained with an anxious look of her own

Derek was getting ready to curse

About to send word out to gather a team of horses and trackers to go out looking for him themselves, when he heard someone else speak up from

Someone completely and utterly unexpected

"Well, guess it's a good thing I'm a witch then,"

Derek turned his head, a relieved smile crossing his face as he stared at the person who had spoken

"Your Majesty," he said with a bright grin

Between the magic and the insistence on doing things his own way, Derek could certainly see the family resemblance between the two of them....

The king just gave a small shrug, approaching the mirror and inhaling deeply, closing his eyes and muttering a quiet chant under his breath

The mirror began to shift and swirl and before he knew it, there was a portal right in the center

Derek didn't have time to spare, so he gave a fond word of gratitude to the older king before hurrying through the mirror as quickly as he possibly could and landing just a few feet away from Stiles

Luckily his sudden arrival was more than enough to take everyone's eyes off of the witch, and when they all tuned to the see the cause of the disruption, it gave Stiles a momentary advantage

One that he took full use of for that matter

All it had taken was just a few seconds for them to be distracted for Stiles to swoop in and deliver several paralyzing blows- or atleast paralyzing enough to nock them out of commission for a wile

Derek used the opportunity to partly shift, a low growl leaving his throat as he rushed into the action and started to slash and bite at any hunter who came too close

"What are you doing? You're going to get blood on your reputation after I just finished cleaning it," Stiles huffed in fake protest

"I could say the same for you," Derek pointed out with a small smirk, pressing his back against Stiles' to present a single, solid, united front

They had eachother's backs- and now that was being presented quite literally

"I'm doing what I have to do," Stiles insisted, magic clearly snapping at his fingertips as he steadied the sword in his hands

"That makes two of us," Derek insisted, claws flexing and eyes narrowing as he waited for the hunters to make the first move

"I'm not going to let you get bloodied over this alone, what we do to protect our kingdoms, we do together,"

"Together?" Stiles asked quietly, almost... skeptickally, but not quite

"Yes," Derek confirmed with a quick nod

"Together,"

Stiles let out a breath, grinning as he tightened his grip on his sword

"Ok, but no take-backs, you said it and now it's law,"

Derek only grinned, launching forward as the hunters charged at them

"I wouldn't have it any other way,"

 

~+~

 

Incidentally, though Derek and Stiles had both fought quite hard against the hunters, it had been Parrish who did the most damage

A single gust of fire had taken out most of them

He complained about Stiles not having let him do that from the beginning, but Derek had a feeling that he sort of knew Stiles by this point and he knew exactly why he didn't

He didn't want Parrish to have the same nightmares that he had, most likely

Cora had gone back home to Lyacon the second Derek allowed her to, not having wanted to be away from home any longer than absolutely and explicitly necessary

And after all that, once Derek and Stiles had returned Mageia, things changed drastically

No longer did anyone fear the two of them

They could walk down the street, greet their citizens, have ... lives and no one was afraid or timid or hostile

Derek reveled in it, and he had a strong feeling that Stiles did too

There was some sort of renewed sense of loyalty to the kings after that, people had become far more protective of them than they used to be

Stiles' father had officially passed the throne over to his son, more than content with simply being the King Father and keeping his stress levels considerably lower than they had been when he was king

As such, Parrish remained Stiles' loyal companion, but he did often drift back to his master when Stiles didn't need him, and he did so in human form most of the time

It had been quite interesting getting to know Parrish as a person and Derek could easily see where the strict loyalty had come from

It had been about three weeks now since that fatefull All Hallow's Eve and things had definitely changed for the better

Things were good again, things were starting to settle, and Derek could only hope that they would stay that way

But ofcourse, with all good must come some bad, and with things starting to return to a state of peace in both of their kingdoms, there was no longer a need to keep up the charade of marriage

There was no longer a need for the two of them to stay together, despite how close they had become to eachother over the last several weeks

Stiles hadn't brought it up, so Derek figured that it may finally be time for him to

After all, if he didn't, who else would?

He didn't want to be responsible for holding Stiles back in life and as long as they were "engaged" then Stiles couldn't move on and find a REAL potential mate, and that was unacceptable

"So.... how much should we tell them?"

Stiles glanced up from where he was reading on the floor, finally allowing himself to have a few hours of breathing room after non-stop work for the last several days

"Tell who what?"

"The people.... when we tell them that we're not engaged, how much should we tell them? That it was never real? That it was all a ploy? That we were seeking help from eachother? Or should we just let them believe that we had been engaged for real and then ... ended it on good terms for some reason?"

Stiles was quiet for a long, long moment

So long, in fact, that Derek wondered if he had fallen asleep, before finally taking in a breath and speaking again

"Well..... what if we don't tell them?"

"Stiles... they would find out eventually, they'd eventually start to wonder why we weren't spending time together anymore and why there wasn't a wedding, we'd have to tell them something sometime," he argued with a small frown

He wished Stiles didn't have to make this harder on him than it already was, he didn't want this to end any more than Stiles did but atleast he was trying to be a mature adult about it...

"No no... I'm saying.... what if we don't end the engagement?"

The air around them stretched into a long, tense silence

At first Derek didn't know how to respond to that, he was actually almost certain that it was a joke

He would have been sure of it if not for the all-too-serious tone in Stiles' voice and the nearly desperate look on his face

Looks like that just aren't jokes....

"You .... want to get married?" he asked slowly

"Sure, I mean.... we both have to eventually anyway right? Probably sooner than later, we both have to get married and have heirs so... why not just do it together? I mean... we already like eachother and support and trust eachother and ... our PEOPLE like eachother, everything fits, all we would really have to do is plan a wedding- huh... ironic isn't it?"

"You don't want to wait and see if you meet someone you fall in love with?" he asked softly

He knew it was a longshot, having heirs was a priority for any noble bloodline but most especially the royal family

And even in werewolf bloodlines where falling in love was incredibly important, it was still vastly MORE important to marry young so that you could have as many heirs as possible

They were both of marrying age and the clock was ticking but...

Didn't Stiles want to atleast try?

"Derek," he said quietly

"I AM in love with someone,"

It took the werewolf far, far longer than it reasonably should have to understand what he was saying, and when he finally did.... a dawning of realization washed over him, cheeks turning pink and mouth falling open

He couldn't believe this....

Stiles ...

Stiles was falling for him?

Reasonably, he knew, this had to be a dream, another reality, some colossal joke...

Things this good just didn't happen to Derek- ever, for any reason conceivable, but...

But for a moment, anyway, he wanted so very badly to believe that they did, that he was willing to believe the absurdity of the idea that Stiles was in love with him

"You... you're really in love with me?"

Stiles was starting to look annoyed, but Derek didn't care, he needed confirmation on this, he needed to know he wasn't going crazy

"Yes, you idiot, I'm really in love with you,"

Slowly, as slowly as a snail, Derek set his own book down and moved in a little closer, reaching out to very gently cup Stiles' cheek and close his eyes, leaning in more and more, closer and closer, until their lips gently skimmed against eachother

Derek's heart was fluttering- it was a loud, pounding kind of flutter, but it was still a flutter all the same

"I love you," he breathed

And those words...

He hadn't said those words to another living soul in years, not since his mother was alive...

He loved Cora deeply, but it had always felt like such an awfull curse on his tongue, such a hypocritical thing to say to her when he was responsible for their family being gone, he and his selfishness...

Though, now that he remembered how good it felt, and now that he felt atleast a portion of the guilt lifted, perhaps he would tell her the next time he saw her....

"You do?" Stiles breathed, seemingly just as shocked as Derek somehow

The wolf nodded timidly, a tiny, gracefull smile crossing over his lips as he leaned in just enough to press their foreheads together, inhaling the scent around his _fiance's_ atmosphere

It should probably be weird to think of Stiles that way now, now for the first time considering him to really be his fiance' and not just a partner that he was fake-engaged to

But it wasn't

It was natural, it felt like the next natural step

And Derek felt _good_

He couldn't resist the urge to wrap his arms around Stiles' frame, holding him tightly and breathing him in

This was good

THEY were good...

 

~+~

 

One month after their engagement became real, wedding plans- actual wedding plans- were finally underway

Derek had decided to live with Stiles in his kingdom and let Cora rule in Lyacon

He may still technically be the king there but it was the queen who everyone would need to address in his absence

Lydia had gone partly crazy with the wedding planning but neither groom quite had what it took to put a stop to her, and honestly, she was so happy that they didn't have the heart for it anyhow

Derek was making himself rather at home in the kingdom as soon-to-be fellow king and the two of them were already starting to talk about children

It was weird and it was fast-paced but that was their relationship in a nutshell anyway and always had been

Strange suited them, it was practically part of who they were, and Derek was more than just ok with that- he kind of liked it

He remembered vividly when his parents were alive how his mother often used to say that strange people were always the ones who survived, because what was considered normal changed from day to day and normal people would always be destined to die out in one way or another

He wasn't really sure if she was right or not, but he liked to believe that she was, especially now that he had Stiles- a little cup of strangeness all to himself

Things were good though

They were calm

Peacefull

And once the two of them had (secretly) stated sharing a bed, the nightmares seemed to practically evaporate

Things were the way they were supposed to be...

Until one very cold winter day when the doors to the throne room were slammed wide open, and a young man- a king, if the crown on his head spoke for anything- with midnight black hair, dark tan skin, and a crooked jaw stepped in and interrupted their wedding planning

"I'm looking for the Evil King and the Wicked Alpha," he said boldly

Stiles and Derek exchanged looks, straightening up in their thrones as Stiles cleared his throat and decided to address the stranger on both their behalf's

"That's us,"

The unidentified prince swallowed, his fists tightly held at his sides as he stared up at the two of them with feirceness and desperation in his gaze

"My name is Scott McCall, I need your help,"


End file.
